Tag Archives: Health and Safety

Continuous Improvement and Fall Prevention: Using the Hierarchy of Controls to Prevent Slips, Trips and Falls

Posted on by
Reply

In Part III of our blog series during National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls in Construction, Scott Gaddis looks at using the Hierarchy of Controls to promote a proactive safety approach to preventing falls in the workplace.

Employing the Hierarchy of Controls

Understanding control and how best to manage your walking and working surfaces program are more significant than the outputs of the risk assessment process. The process defines good control actions specific to hazards and risks, but it is not the only process that can be used. While I’m a firm believer in the risk matrix and scoring approach, I also would recommend the widely accepted approach within the safety and health practice called the hierarchy of controls. This process is simple to understand and is quite useful in gauging the control appetite of the organization. It should serve as the overarching methodology for how we best deliver the … Read more...

Fall Prevention Strategies: How Risk Management Can Prevent Slips, Trips and Falls

Posted on by
Reply

In Part I of this blog, Scott Gaddis looked at how falls in the workplace happen and the impact they can have on workers. In Part II, Scott examines the role of risk assessments in preventing falls from happening in the first place.

Risk Assessment

The objective of risk assessment and analysis is to understand the level of risk associated with the hazards found in the work environment as well as the concerns related to how people are navigating walking and working surfaces. All associated activities need to be judged with criteria that assist in building a credible understanding of what is acceptable or not acceptable.

Most regulatory bodies require some form of risk assessment and all follow a similar template:

  • Identify risks to the worker associated with work activity.
  • Identity hazards found in the work environment that pose a threat of loss.
  • Provide details of identified risks or hazards
… Read more...

Is Your Organization Prepared for an OSHA Inspection?

Posted on by
Reply

OSHA expects to complete approximately 31,400 inspections in 2022, rebounding to pre-pandemic levels.

Will you be ready if an Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) inspector comes calling?

In 2021, OSHA conducted 24,333 inspections, including 13,749 unprogrammed inspections, which were prompted by employee complaints, injuries, fatalities and referrals.

During two years of COVID-19, the U.S. regulatory agency performed fewer inspections and most of these were limited to onsite investigations of fatalities, catastrophic accidents and coronavirus issues. The tide turned and OSHA has significantly stepped-up efforts to hold employers accountable for failures to protect workers and keep them safe.

This year has seen more OSHA visits and greater fines imposed. It was recently reported that OSHA expects to complete approximately 31,400 inspections in 2022, rebounding to pre-pandemic levels. OSHA has increased maximum penalties for serious and other-than-serious violations from $13,653 to $14,502 per violation. The maximum penalty for willful or repeated … Read more...

Majority of Private Sector Workforce in U.S. Impacted by OSHA COVID-19 Vaccination and Testing Emergency Standard

Posted on by
Reply
Occupational Safety and Health Administrationannounces an emergency temporary standard to protect more than 84 million workers from the spread of coronavirus.
84 million workers covered under an emergency temporary standard aimed at protecting workers from coronavirus.

The waiting and speculation is over: The U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration today announced a new emergency temporary standard to protect more than 84 million workers from the spread of the coronavirus on the job. It is estimated two-thirds of workers in the private sector are included in this mandate.

Under this standard, covered employers—which includes any employer with 100 or more employees total—must develop, implement and enforce a mandatory COVID-19 vaccination policy, unless they adopt a policy requiring employees to choose to either be vaccinated or undergo regular COVID-19 testing and wear a face covering at work.

Since 2020, the coronavirus has led to the deaths of 750,000 people in the United States, and the infection of millions more, making it the deadliest pandemic in the nation’s history. Many of … Read more...

Labor Rights Week 2021: Building a Future that Empowers all Workers

Posted on by
Reply
Labor Rights Week empowers workers

This year, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is recognizing Labor Rights Week from Aug. 30 to Sept. 3, 2021.

“Many immigrant workers have performed essential duties throughout the COVID-19 pandemic,” write Jim Frederick, acting assistant secretary for the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), and Jessica Looman, acting administrator for DOL’s Wage and Hour Division in a DOL blog. “It is important that they have meaningful access to information about their rights as they work diligently during these challenging times. It’s also important that employers understand their responsibilities and meet their obligations. We are committed to working together through education and compliance assistance.”

During Labor Rights Week, Aug. 30 – Sept. 3, DOL is hoping to get the word out that ALL workers have the same right to a safe workplace and fair pay, as well as the right to report possible violations without retaliation. That’s because … Read more...

How BSI is Creating Health and Safety Standards to Protect the Public from COVID-19.

Posted on by
Reply
Face Masks and BSI Standards

Before 2020, most people who didn’t work in health and safety or who weren’t required to wear PPE for their job knew what the acronym means. By March of that year, the coronavirus pandemic had ensured that the term personal protective equipment (PPE) was now on everyone’s lips.

Since then, news reports and social interactions have been dominated with discussions about masks. Health agencies, governments, and private businesses have provided guidance and policies about wearing masks in public, while the early stages of the pandemic saw massive supply chain failures endanger the flow of critical supplies of PPE like N95 respirators to the healthcare workers who needed them most. Since most people don’t typically keep a supply of personal PPE such as masks available to them at all times, the mandates requiring masks in public created a surging demand for cloth masks, which was met by various entrepreneurs, clothiers, and … Read more...

President Biden Installs Two Deputy Assistant Secretaries at Workplace Safety and Health Agency to Jump-Start Agenda

Posted on by
Reply
Deputy Assistant Secretaries

(Reposted with permission from the GT Alert newsletter from the law firm of Greenberg Traurig.)

On Jan. 19, 2020, the day before President Joe Biden was sworn in as the 46th president of the United States, his transition team announced that James Frederick will be appointed deputy assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, a non-Senate confirmed position. In this role, Mr. Frederick will run the Occupational Safety and Health Agency (OSHA) until President Biden nominates someone for assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health and the Senate confirms the nominee.

Since September 2019, Mr. Frederick has been a part-time consultant for ORC HSE Strategies, LLC, where he provided member employers with, among other things, advice on and assistance with regulatory and legislative matters and assessment and integration of health and safety management systems. Before that, he was assistant director of the Health, Safety & … Read more...

How Digital Transformation Is Propelling Operational Excellence in Oil and Gas

Posted on by
Reply
Digital Transformation Oil and Gas

Digital transformation plays an impactful role in shaping practices and processes in most industries, including oil and gas. From accurately forecasting the number of incidents to automating administrative tasks related to those incidents and process hazard analyses, the digitization of the oil and gas industry has contributed to worker safety, streamlined EHSQ and compliance processes and nurtured improved safety cultures.

While the oil and gas industry has not been at the forefront of innovation historically, it has, however, retained its position as a leading player in the economy as it continues to be the largest source of energy (in the U.S., it is the #1 source). As the source material for gasoline, diesel and jet fuel, it is also used to make products including propane, asphalt and petro-chemical feedstocks as well as heavy and light fuel oil. On top of that, it is also used in producing many consumer products … Read more...

8 Checklists for 2020: A Quick Way to Check In and Level Up Your EHSQ Programs

Posted on by
Reply

These checklists from Intelex offer practical advice about managing aspects of safety like slips and falls and electrical hazards, help you touch base with employees during these stressful times, offer insight into your organization’s preparedness planning, provide guidance on quality issues like voice of customer and 5S, and much more!

Don’t Be Shocked – A Checklist for Electrical Safety – While the objective of protecting the safety of their employees continues to be a strong focus for employers, there still needs to be more checks in place to reduce injuries.

Embrace the New Age of Digital Learning: Training Management in the Age of COVID-19 – Learning and training is more important than ever. When the world moves quickly, sometimes in unexpected ways, we need to make sure our training can keep up and give our teams what they need to survive and thrive.

Back to Work Checklist for Mindful Leaders – While strategic vision … Read more...

Key 2020 Trends in Health & Safety in the UK

Posted on by
Reply
UK Health and Safety Statistics

Fact: This year has presented more than its fair share of challenges globally, particularly in the area of health and safety (H & S). On top of the fact that COVID-19 has claimed over 65,000 lives in United Kingdom to date, health officials and employers also had to address an increase in the number of work-related illnesses related to stress, anxiety and depression.

2020 will go down in history as a year unlike any other. Governments had to scramble to find solutions to a fast-growing pandemic; pharmaceutical giants had to dramatically ramp up efforts to develop and release a vaccine across the globe; and organizations had to pivot when it comes to their day-to-day operations as well as to their business continuity planning efforts.


Year-Over-Year H & S Trends in Great Britain


Despite the changes that businesses had to make to adapt to changes in the economic landscape, worker health … Read more...